July 17, 2011
Minnesota

Ordinance left blowing in the wind

By Brett Boese, The Post-Bulletin, www.postbulletin.com 16 July 2011

RED WING – On June 30, with Minnesota’s government mere hours from a shutdown, Rep. Tim Kelly found himself apologizing at the state Capitol for something completely unrelated to the budget.

Kelly, a Republican from Red Wing, extended an apology to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission on behalf of the Legislature for creating ambiguous language relating to wind energy years ago.

Differing legal interpretations of the 2007 state statute regulating wind development, along with the state’s wind energy mandate of the same year, is at the heart of the debate over the AWA Goodhue project. The end result – the PUC issuing a site permit after an unprecedented 20 months of debate and review – has increased cries for reform on the matter.

Kelly and Rep. Steve Drazkowski, a Republican from Mazeppa, have been trying to overhaul the permitting process for nearly two years. Read about the debate in Saturday’s print edition.

[rest of article available at source]

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/07/17/ordinance-left-blowing-in-the-wind/